The Rescue Plan

New players coming aboard to help with the new W.E.T. River Trips site are like Neo to the rescue. Part of our group is forming a partnership with another network in order to make things flow together. (Pun intended...) Hey, finally we're excited again.

So many changes are happening on the internet that it is making our heads spin. As page view stats start to disappear, everyone is going to see a much more familiar landscape on the net. It's called plain ol' advertising... marketing with an internet twist, of course. (Madison Ave is finally listening...)

The daily grind of the seo expert is currently changing with the wind. More on that later as we welcome new strategies and ways to our revamp. Some old stuff will remain as they have proven their worth while other strategies are going out the window. YJ, are you listening, dude... Aloha, from the beach...

Waterfall Blown to Bits

One of the avatars in Second Life has created several waterfalls for our property. It takes a lot of time placing the prims in such a way as to create a nice water flowing object. One of the waterfalls is quite large and took her many hours to create it. All of us have tweaked and modified each other's work to improve the look. After all, we are learning.

The other day, we went in to practice building, when we discovered that someone had blown our large waterfall up. Yeh. Seriously. The entire top of the falls was destroyed and the rocks were blown around the area. Geesh. I just stared. Then, I started laughing. Amusing. Annoying. Ready for game-like combat. It's a game, the chant started in my head. It's a game. And someone else thought it was funny enough to do this.

Then the other day, I went in to upload some new textures, when we discovered that someone had scripted us into high heavens whenever we teleported on to the land. Geesh, another annoying problem. But then we discovered that someone had altered our land by taking the land mass out from below our warehouse! A good one. Another quick fix, and it was done.

Maybe a competitor in the whitewater rafting business? Or maybe we just pissed someone off with our company presence. Who knows? I just wish they would have communicated their annoyances before they demolished our work. Second Life is so interesting and creative. Luckily we had the entire waterfall in our inventory and we just replaced it in a flash. Hey... maybe they just thought our work stank!

RAFTWET -the Avatar

Second Life is becoming complicated for the avatar, Raftwet. She has evolved from a rudimentary avatar of warehouse freebies dressed in clumsy attire and non-scripted hair, to the alluring realness of a well-dressed woman. She has a form and shape that is to die for as she moves gracefully into the social world that exists there.

She is dancing at ballrooms and raves. She has been given social invitations to upscale events. She's traveled to Venice for a rooftop party in the square. She went to Barcelona to shop for beautiful clothing and shoes. And she's just been invited to tour Nantucket in a yacht with friends.

Recreation and activities are available on most of the islands. Rafee (new nickname) loves surfing on Japan Resort, raving at TJice, cruising through the Gardens at Apollo, dancing at the Moonlight Ballroom, swimming in the ocean and floating on the rivers. What's gotten complicated is the social aspect. Like the real world, there are liars, con men and thieves. Our naive avatar has made many multiple faux pas in this world, thinking it was a utopia instead of a possible dystopia.

Our Raftwet avatar has gotten involved with a man there. He is a handsome, polished character with many friends. He has professed his love for her. We think our avatar is in love. Yes, the avatars do fall in love. And with a declared love, comes the complication of love triangles, miscommunication and jealousy. The two characters have openly debated the need for more time as couples do in RL. But in doing so, this has opened the door for our avatar to meet others.

There's Ron, a gorgeous guy who is always dressed to the nines. A physical attraction has developed between the two friends. We can tell that they like each other. He has connections to many of the retailers in SL and has helped Rafee with her new look.

And there's Popo, her friend who is teaching her French. He is a gentleman in Paris who was one of her first dance partners. In RL, he lives in Paris and works for a technical firm. He has saved her from the hooligans and griefers on many occasion.

Anto, is an Italian friend, who has been a great support with introducing her to many places and people. He is also a fine ballroom dancer. He may be a woman or a man. It doesn't really matter in SL. He recently took her to Venice for a penthouse party in the square.

Another interesting character is Fernando from Argentina. He is a mad scripter and griefer. Our avatar has a bit of a crush on him as she seems to be attracted to the crazies and their brilliant minds. He has given her many scripted items. He took her for a ride on Pegasus. Then he gave her the flying script with the winged horse, and they both flew around the islands all afternoon. After that, she was his friend forever.

So where are the woman friends? There's CeCe, Emily, Notorious and others. The problem with women in SL, especially in the dancing or club scene, is just like in RL. Everyone is jealous of each other. On the dance floor, women will literally push you away from a guy. Or block you from dancing with a friend. Really! It's kind of odd, since you can always change your look to whatever you want. So jealousy in SL... does seem weird.

And finally, there's Lou. Her first real friend in SL. He has been there since day one. A good friend to dance with, to talk to, to hang out with. He is gorgeous, young and has lots of friends. The two avatars keep their lives separate as he is a punk and metal guitarist for a band and leads a different lifestyle in SL. He has helped warn her of the problems in SL and the social dynamics.

The avatars do fall in love. They get married, they get pregnant, they have children, homes, pets, property, jobs and love lives. The only difference is that problems and relationships can disappear quickly as easily as turning off the computer.

Raftwet - The Avatar

Rafee (nickname) went shopping with $10,000 Linden dollars last week. About $30+ in US currency. With that money, Rafee went to Barcelona for a shopping spree. Beautiful gowns and casual sets were purchased. She also went to some of the hottest retail properties in Second Life suggested by many other avatars. A new skin and shape helped to make the clothes look even better as our avatar evolved. Off to Gurl for the latest in hairstyles, and Rafee was set.

She had been invited to a dance party at both Virtual Party and Mediascape. She went to both. In RL, the members of the team were also having a party. So the weekend was spent raving on in RL and in SL. All the team had their laptops gaming their favorites while a lot of them spent their time in SL dancing with each other while we tweaked what we could.

Blurry eyed, lack of sleep, it was a 2-day event of no-sleep, gallons of caeffine, bad food, awesome music and dancing. They all met people in SL, danced with them, cuddled and danced some more. Our avatar finally hit the sack in RL around 4am on Monday morning.

The RL world remains the same, but SL moves faster than a griefer's scripted command.